At Growthpoint we see our business as a force for good and know that, to be sustainable, our clients' businesses also need to be. The programmes and initiatives we have built over the years continue to significantly impact our clients and communities. Even through the pandemic we have helped to sustain small enterprises through rental relief and our support toward educational programmes which has delivered exceptional results. We have been faced with challenges with a changed environment but we have been able to quickly adapt.

Our core focus area for the year under review included educational initiatives, entrepreneurship development and staff engagement. We have extended our ECD practitioners training programme into KZN, continued to support bursary recipients at Christel House and funded the Protec programme in Limpopo for another three years. Furthermore, both the Growsmart and Growthpoint GEMS initiatives have accommodated and assisted learners with the digital shift in the education landscape.

Local community engagement has also been a priority for our enterprise development initiative, Property Point, and an engagement policy has been submitted for review. The businesses that are part of the Property Point incubation programme, as well as its alumni network, survived the difficult times, proving that the programme is effective in growing sustainable small businesses.

Corporate Social Investment projects

Early Childhood Development (ECD)

Growthpoint is committed to improving the quality of education in the country and has therefore funded the training of early childhood development centre practitioners for the past five financial years. In FY21, these initiatives were extended to provinces outside of Gauteng, with an additional programme initiated in Pietermaritzburg's Edendale township.

Christel House

Since 2018 Growthpoint has provided an educational scholarships for 30 learners at Christel House. The programme not only teaches leadership, but helps these learners develop positive values and embrace strong work ethics. More importantly, it aims to produce young people who are well equipped to make meaningful contributions to our country.

Our partnership with Christel House has yielded excellent results and we have committed to funding an additional 20 learners in the coming financial year.

Growthpoint's outlook towards corporate social responsibility has always been to focus on driving sustainable impact for the communities in which we operate. Our core focus areas have consistently been supporting education initiatives, entrepreneurship development and staff engagement.

	Protec success story – Lishivha Shothodzo
	The programme's top achieving learner was Lishivha Shothodzo who was also the seventh highest matric achiever in the Limpopo province in 2020. Growthpoint subsequently awarded her a bursary to study Actuarial Science at the University of Cape Town. She says the Protec programme was "incredible" and helped her through her Grade 10 to Grade 12 school journey. "In my final year we faced challenges like Covid-19 but the programme supported me and made sure I had everything I needed to overcome these challenges. I also received guidance when choosing my career and this motivated me to do my best in everything. That's why today I'm considered the best. I also received the Growthpoint bursary when I had no hope and this has changed my life. It has given me a chance to follow my dream and passion of becoming an actuary. I appreciate the support I have been given to make sure I keep doing my best."

Protec

In 2018 Growthpoint and Protec partnered in the initiation of its maths and science programme in Limpopo's Vhembe District. Previously we supported 40 learners from four schools which generated very positive results. Even though the area experienced challenges at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, learners were able to overcome them. For the current financial year, we have supported a teacher maths and science development programme for the Vhembe District.

Growsmart

Since 2009 the Growsmart Educational Programme has been at the forefront of advancing learning experiences and behaviours for previously disadvantaged learners in Grades 4, 5 and 6. The programme is delivered in a fun and competitive format and the pandemic has not changed this.

While technology has always had a transformative impact on education, the rapid changes brought about by the Covid-19 lockdown significantly accelerated the process. Educators and learners were forced to step out of their comfort zones to continue teaching and learning and in doing so, they discovered new and innovative methods. Some learners – particularly those from well-resourced schools – did, however, adapt to the change better than others.

The programme's impact is far-reaching and it has, to date, helped more than 24 000 learners to achieve educational goals that might otherwise have not been possible.

In 2022, Growsmart will welcome two new learners to the alumni programme, both of whom received bursaries from the MAD Leadership Foundation and the Kay Mason Foundation.

Growthpoint GEMS

Our flagship youth development programme, Growthpoint GEMS, is designed to assist employees who could be classified as the "missing middle", in terms of their income.

Anchored on three pillars, the programme provides funding for tuition fees, stationery and uniforms. It also focuses on the development of students at both personal and leadership levels and offers psychosocial support to ensure a holistic approach to their development. This includes access to a wellness offering and financial advisers.

In FY21, the programme established a number of interventions to assist with the migration to online learning and establish an ecosystem of support. Both learners and their parents have access to mental health support and GEMS webinars that aim to empower parents who are raising "Generation Z" children.

For the period under review, we allocated R7 030 481 to scholarships and development programmes for 96 learners from primary school to tertiary level. For the 2021 academic year, the annual qualifying cost-to-company (CTC) limit for the parents and guardians of Growthpoint GEMS recipients has been increased from R370 000 to R400 000. When the programme initially commenced in 2016, the qualifying CTC limit was R300 000 a year.

Enterprise and supplier development

Property Point is a small business development programme aimed at building South Africa's economy while addressing the many social issues affecting the country. It provides entrepreneurs with the business skills, training and personal development support they need to develop their enterprises into fully independent companies that can compete for opportunities in the market. Through this programme we have successfully carried out entrepreneurship development and focused on economic inclusion, with our overall goal being to contribute to economic and social change through independent, viable and sustainable businesses.

Over the past few years, we have also made a concerted effort to promote gender equality and advance women-owned businesses. In January 2021, we launched an all-women programme to move us closer to achieving our 2023 goal of having 70% of the businesses in our programme being women-owned.

Our current representation of women-owned businesses is 51%. Furthermore, we have adopted a talent management approach to ensure that business owners and their senior management teams are adequately capacitated to drive the operational aspects of the business.

Local Economic Development (LED) – is an enterprise development programme for SMMEs that assists us in developing small businesses in the communities where Growthpoint have invested in retail assets.

While this approach is not a departure from what Growthpoint has done in the past, much of it centres on localisation. An LED policy has been developed and will be submitted to the Board for approval. The Property Point team has also been involved in the following community engagement projects on behalf of Growthpoint Properties.

• The Dis-Chem extension project at Waterfall Mall, Rustenburg
• Festival Mall, Kempton Park
• Vaal Mall, Vanderbijlpark
• Property development, KZN

Outcomes

Mapping the green value chain in RSA and on the continent, we assist businesses to define their green value propositions. Potential clients may then buy services and products from these SMEs according to their own social and environmental values.

We also assist with possible certification for those who want to pursue further training and provide access to markets for green opportunities. Developing a pool of green specialists with specialist competencies, Property Point also utilises a customised in-house results chain framework that is benchmarked against the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) standards for best practice.